“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8
When the day of Pentecost came after the resurrection of Christ, Scripture tells us that, “… there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven.” (Acts 2:5) On that day, the Spirit was “poured out” upon all flesh, as the prophet Joel had declared at least 800 years before. That which is so very significant about this outpouring is not only that the moving, or coming of the Spirit at that time was announced by “…a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,” and that split tongues, like as of fire” came to rest upon every disciple who was gathered to pray. Scripture goes on to say that all the disciples gathered were “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Another distinguishing occurrence was the fact that these disciples were able to speak in the different languages of the multitude of men gathered there from every nation, declaring the “wonderful works of God.” One reason for this specific manifestation of the Spirit was that God had chosen a moment in time, in which He would fulfill His promise to mankind, to visit all mankind with not only the message of salvation by Jesus Christ, but with the very power of the Spirit to bring it about in the hearts and lives of men. Though all men would not believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, yet the message of truth, and the power of God by the Spirit accompanying that truth, of God’s grace and mercy was for all to know, hear, see, and choose what they would believe.
The event of the Spirit coming on the Day of Pentecost was in the city of Jerusalem, and it was specific to the Jews, though the command of Jesus before He was crucified, was that the message of the Gospel was to be preached, taught, unto “the uttermost parts of the earth.” It was a message that was destined for all men. The believing Jews of that time, even the disciples of Christ, had difficulty grasping the enormity, and the extent of the outpouring of the Spirit. It would take the Lord bringing Peter face to face with a Roman centurion, who was a believer but not Jewish, and revealing to all assembled in the centurion’s house to hear Peter’s words, that the Spirit of God, which had come upon the Jews in Jerusalem, had also come upon the gentiles, upon all the nations of the earth. Cornelius, with all of his household and those gathered together that day, came to know the Spirit of God being poured upon them in power. They too would come to know Christ by the Spirit.
How great and powerful is the Gospel? It is as powerful as the need of men is great. It is as extensive as the extremities of the earth are separated one from the other. It is as effective as Life conquers death, for by it, and the power of Christ through the message of truth, men are brought face to face not only with the knowledge of the impossibility of being saved from the wrath of God to come upon all who will not believe, but also, and more importantly, the certainty of forgiveness of sins, and the gift of eternal life to all who will believe. The Day of Pentecost at that time was an announcement by God to the world that the message of the gospel of truth had now come with the power to save, deliver, and bless with life eternal the soul who would truly receive it.
What then must be the response of the church to Christ’s command to take the message and blessing to the ends of the earth? It is first to be filled with the Spirit, then “to make known to every heart God’s saving grace.”
Dear Father, Accomplish Thy mission today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.